PKOTOFILE ENVELOPES 
MADE FROM 

PERMAUFE PAPER 

COPYRiTE HOWARD PAPER MILLS INC. 
MIN pH 7.5 




THE NATIONAL GRIEF; 



ITS CAUSE AND ITS LESSON. 



A SERMON ON THE DEATH OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 






"EX.li, B. D. 



THE NATIONAL GRIEF; 

ITS CAUSE AND ITS LESSON. 



A SERMON ON THE DEATH OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 

PREACHED IN THE M. E. CHURCH, DOVER, DEL,, SEPT. 25, 1881, RY THE PASTOR 

J. H. QJLX.U WELL, B, 33., 
#» 

AND PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. 



I have read for tbe text on this 
mournful occasion the 35th Psalm, but 
will especially emphasize the 21st verse. 

"Yea, they opened their mouth wide 
against me, and said, Aha, aha, our eye 
hath seen it." 

Panegyrics are abundant just now. 
They sound out from platform and pul- 
pit through the length and breadth of 
the land, and echo and re-echo across the 
continent and over the civilized world. 
Newspapers — throughout Christen- 
dom, draped in mourning, — are teem- 
ing with encomiums, the like of which 
were never before so pathetically and 
universally bestowed on mortal man. 
James A. Garfield might have had per- 
sonal and political enemies in his life, 
he has none in his death. Those who 
were first and foremost in their en- 
deavors to prevent his election to the 
highest seat of honor and trust in the 
republic, now, that he lies low iu death, 
vie with his most ardent supporters in 
doing honor to his memory, in pronounc- 
ing encomiums of merit, in testifying 
to the blamelessness of his life, the spot- 
lessness of his character and the noble- 
ness of his nature. This is enough. 
No more need be said of a personal 
character. Let him be all in greatness 
of character, in splendor of intellect, 
in wealth of endowment, in goodness 
of heart that are claimed for him alike 
by friend and by foe. There are no 
diversities of sentiment concerning his 



worth. The Nation, regardless of po- 
litical, religious, sectional, or personal 
distinctions, is one in its high estimate 
of the man, as it is one in its profound 
sense of the loss of the President. 

My present purpose is not to deal 
with the personal aspects of the case, 
but with the event itself and the lesson 
which may be drawn from it by the 
Mation at large, and by the people of 
God. For this purpose I have selected 
as a mere index to my leading points a 
portion of Scripture which suggests the 
utmost extremes of thought in relation 
to God and his providence, and to mor- 
tal man and his destiny. This will ap- 
pear if we but glance over the Psalm 
which contains the text. But before I 
ask you to consider a brief synopsis of 
this Psalm, let me remind you that it 
is one of several in which the inspired 
writer divides the human family into 
two great classes— the righteous and 
the wicked ; and in which he exhibits 
them in contrast, standing, as it were, 
in an attitude of mutual hostility. The 
extremes of the two great parties are 
represented in this Psalm, and they 
consist, on tbe one hand, of those who 
are most pronounced in their religious 
character, the most conspicuous in 
their devotion to God ; and, on the 
other hand, of those who are most bold 
and outspoken in their enmity to God, 
and in their hostile attitude toward his 
people. But extremes only represent 



£87 



themselves, or the strongest types of 
character ; they do not represent the 
majority on either side, except in so 
far as they may be accepted and fol- 
lowed as leaders. The following in 
either direction may be with alacrity 
by some, but languidly by others, un- 
til the two parties gradually approach 
and are only separated by a faintly dis- 
cernable line. Still there are only two 
great parties, the righteous and the 
wicked. 

Now there are many occasions in hu- 
man history and many events in which 
the two parties, with all their varying 
hues and all their shades of differences, 
are united in a common object, a com- 
mon interest, a common struggle, a 
common sorrow. And so we find it 
now. The worst men in our nation, in 
common with the best, are struck 
dumb with horror at the appalling 
crime which robbed us of our late Pres- 
ident, and are overwhelmed with the 
same grief, wearing the same tokens of 
sorrow, using the same epithets of re- 
gret or of indignation, expressing the 
same sympathy and condolence and 
moved by the same spontaneous im- 
pulses. What we find among our- 
selves, we see only with less intensity 
among all the civilized peoples of the 
globe. Notably so in Great Britain, 
but appreciably so in all other enlight- 
ened nations. How can we account 
for it? On this ground : "God hath 
made of one blood all nations of men 
for to dwell on all the face of the earth, 
and hath determined the times before 
appointed, and the bounds of their hab- 
itation." In a word, the nations of 
mankind, despite race, language, insti- 
tutions and religion, are one humanity, 
influenced by like motives, moved by 
like impulses, swayed by like hopes, 
fears and aspirations. This is an ar- 
gument for the unity of the race that 
ought to sweep into oblivion all the 
speculations that have been arrayed 
against it. 

Estimating the human inhabitants 
of the globe at a billion and a quarter, 
one twenty-fifth of the whole number 
reside within the limits and under the 
jurisdiction of the United State. The 



population is composed of various na- 
tionalities and races, is characterized 
by different religious ideas, some of 
which are irreconcilably hostile to each 
other, is taught in different schools of 
politics, and educated under systems 
widely differing from one another, so 
that it presents a heterogeneous aspect 
scarcely paralleled in any other part of 
the globe. Nevertheless, there is ap- 
parent, and in practical operation 
throughout all the States and Terri- 
tories of this wonderful republic, a 
mighty principle of homeogeneity. 
What does it mean ? It means just 
what we now realize more fully than 
ever before — that the nations of the 
earth, of whatever form of government, 
whether republic, limited monarchy, 
or absolute despotism, have been con- 
strained to look upon ours with undis- 
guised wonder and profound respect. A 
stricken President touches all the na- 
tions, and the tender chords of sympa- 
thy vibrate to the ends of the earth. 
An Orphean hand touches the harp- 
string, and the dirge is heard beyond 
the seas and across the continents, 
while the nations bow with uncovered 
heads as we consign the mortal dust of 
a great ruler to the silence of the shad- 
owy tomb. It means more— for during 
the eighty days of languishing and 
wasting, of bitter pain and domestic 
anguish, of patient suffering and na- 
tional solicitude, society lay as calm 
and quiet as an infant sleeping upon 
its mother's breast. There was 
no tumult, no insurrection, no bois- 
terous rabble clamoring for redress 
of imaginary grievances, no disturb- 
ances but such as are common in the 
most tranquil times. The Ship of 
State rode gallantly on a peaceful sea ; 
no war save the border Indian trou- 
bles ; no delay in the transportation of 
mails; no friction in any of the De- 
partments of Government ; no closing 
of the courts or delay of justice through 
all the weary weeks of the Nation's one 
tender and pathetic concern. Even 
the voice of partisan strife was hushed, 
and men addicted to angry discussion 
of political problems, recalled to their 
better impulses, grew sedate and laid 



aside their asperities in tlie face of the 
Nation's woe. Place hunters and po- 
litical intriguers, abashed, and over- 
whelmed with confusion, slunk away 
to hide, as it were, in the dark dens and 
caves where they were wont to practice 
those abomniable arts by which they 
too often succeeded in advancing them- 
selves to the exclusion of the merito- 
rious. What does this strange and 
unwonted state of things in our na- 
tional history unfold V Does it not be- 
speak a Supreme and Almighty Power 
that supervises the world, and guides 
the destiny of nations ? Does it not 
convey to the mind of each citizen of 
the republic a conviction that there is 
a God ? Does it not teach, in spite of 
that philosophy that tries to rid the 
world of His presence, that lie does 
concern Himself with the affairs of 
mortals ? Does it not convey silently 
to every heart the admonitory message, 
"Be still, and know that I am God ?" 

Thus we view the situation from a 
national standpoint ; from that stand- 
point whence, without a discordant 
note, all the people, whether religious 
or not, may view it. A national grief, 
felt by a nation bereft of its chief ; 
who, though the breath had but just 
left his body, when his successor occu- 
pied the vacant seat, is nevertheless 
mourned as ruler was never mourned 
before, with a lamentation that drapes 
our cities in the black shroud of woe ; 
that caused tens of thousands to gaze 
upon the funeral cortege bare- head- 
ed and with emotions too big for utter- 
ance, attended only by sighs and tears ; 
that brought students from the recital 
of their lessons to strew the path 
of deceased greatness with flowers; 
that brought all classes of citizens, of- 
ficial and private, to the Uapitol where 
he had wielded the sceptre. 

There is another, and, in my view, 
far more significant standpoint whence 
we should view this great event. It is 
the religious aspect of the case. This 
cannot be ignored by any nation, much 
less a Christian republic. Only a na- 
tion of atheists, or of scoffing liber- 
tines, like France in her Reign of Ter- 
ror, when, as Carlyle represents her, 



she danced her wild waltz on the verge 
of perdition, would sneer at it. Even 
heathen Rome in the most degenerate 
age of her political history could not 
afford to treat the religious sentiments 
of the people— imbruted as they were 
— with disdain. 

Look at dead Ca'sar in the Forum, 
his dress unchanged, his gown, gashed 
with daggers, soaked in blood, still 
wrapped about his noble form. The 
conspirators, appalled at their own 
deed, dreading the consequences, aban- 
doned their purpose of declaring him a 
tyrant and of casting his body into the 
Tiber, hastily framed a new plea ; that 
was "that Ca'3ar's death should be re- 
garded as a sacrifice, and expiatory 
offering for the sins of the nation." 
(Froude's Cassar, p 110.) 

Now look at dead Garfield in the 
American Rotunda. Another, better 
and nobler, if not greater, victim of as- 
sassination. There are no conspirtors 
there seeking to frame an excuse for 
the blackest and wickedest deed, save 
one, in our recorded annals. There 
never was any conspiracy in this atro- 
cious deed, and nothing but the wild- 
est imagination of partisan prejudice 
could ever conceive of there being any 
conspirators in the affair. Not only 
has it been disclaimed by the solitary 
actor in the tragedy, but were he now 
to declare otherwise, without the most 
indisputable confirmatory evidence, he 
would not be believed. No, the one 
solitary arch-criminal is the wretched 
Guiteau, be he demon or madman. 
There lies in state the dead ruler of 
50,U00 ,000 of freemen, wept by all, de- 
plored by all, and greater than the Ro- 
man Cffisar ; not, perhaps, greater in 
intellect, in genius and in power to 
mould and govern men, but still great- 
er, because he was a Christian patriot 
and statesman who lived and still sur- 
vives in the hearts of his countrymen. 
But,as Mark Antony said, "The services 
of Caesar neither needed nor permitted 
the exaggeration of eloquence,*' so we 
say that the services of Garfield neither 
need nor permit it. 

There he lies on this Sabbath day, re- 
moved from the Rotunda of the Capi- 



tol to the forest city on the lake shore, 
in the State where he had been hon- 
ored so often, where he had risen from 
poverty stricken boyhood, struggling 
through the mazes and difficulties of 
life, to the very pinnacle of empire, 
clothed in the inaugural suit in which 
he kissed mother and wife as soon as 
he swore fealty to the Constitution of 
his country as Supreme Magistrate, the 
ghastly mortal wound bid from view 
and only the pale, emaciated features 
in sight, while the Nation, bathed in 
tears, laments his untimely death. 

Is there to the inhabitants of a great 
Christian country, a people accustomed 
to think freely and independently on 
all subjects, a cultured people, disdain- 
ing all the restraints of power, despis- 
ing all fulminations of priestly arro- 
gance — I ask, is there no religious sig- 
nificance to such a people in such an 
event ? I do not know what may be 
the religious sentiments of Dr. Bliss, 
the chief surgeon of the martyred Pres- 
ident, but I ask all thoughtful men 
and women if there was no meaning 
in his gesture, when, turning his back 
to the dead Chief as soon as life was ex- 
tinct, he pointed his ringer in silence 
toward Heaven ? Did it not point to 
the plane where every cultured heart 
throughout broad Christendom points 
— a life immortal beyond the grave ? 
Was that gesture a mere ruse, like that 
of the Roman conspirators, to amuse 
and pacify imbruted ignorance, to stay 
the storm of popular vengeance ? Was 
it a trick, an artifice, a mere stratagem 
to soothe and tranquilize the hearts 
that were ready to burst with grief ? 
Was it a mere sentiment that might 
mean nothing more than an ephemeral 
balm to ease the present pain ? Or 
was it the speechless expression of a 
lifelong conviction, a cherished hope 
that spans the gulf which separates 
time from eternity? lu a word, is 
there a God ? Is there a future life 
for mortal man ? Is there hereafter 
an abode of peace to those who do their 
duty on earth? Is there a scene of 
sorrow and trouble awaiting the guilty 
beyond the grave ? If not, what was 
the meaning of the gesture? But if 



there be a future life how will enemies 
meet in that other world ? Can Gar- 
field grasp the bloody hand of his slay- 
er there ? Only in one way— that red 
right hand must be washed and made 
white by the blood of a greater victim 
than that of him whose blood was shed 
at the depot in Washington. We con- 
cede the possibility of such a washing^ 
for though human guilt be as scarlet, 
it can be made as white as snow; 
though it be red like crimson, it can be 
made as wool. But this can only be 
through the one only sacrifice for sin. 
In the assassin's case it is scarcely 
probable, however possible, that such 
a cleansing can take place, for want of 
a moral fitness to receive it. As yet 
there has not appeared the first indica- 
tion of a moral preparation to receive 
absolution for his desperate crime. On 
the contrary, there appears nothing 
but a dogged persistence in self-justifi- 
cation, a gloating self-gratulation over 
the accomplishment of his dire purpose, 
without the affectation of remorse, 
and only the expression of regret that 
his act had occasioned protracted suf- 
fering to his victim. There is not as 
yet a vestige of true repentance, of 
genuine contrition, only of a cringing 
dread of popular vengeance, such as 
befits a dastardly assassin who, after 
inflicting a mortal wound, would 
sneak, if possible, into concealment, 
or secure safety by flight. So long as 
he cherishes the state of mind which 
now prevails over him, true repentance 
is morally out of the question; and the 
forgiveness of his guilt finds no place 
even in the compass of Divine mercy. 
What then ? How can he appear here- 
after among the stainless inhabitants 
of Heaven ? 

1 am aware that I now raise the 
question that marks the dividing line 
between the good and the bad, which 
separates the righteous from the wick- 
ed, which brings them face to face in 
an open conflict in this Psalm. 

Looking upon the unruffled surface 
of society— ruffled on'y by the common 
grief— we see no difference. But look- 
ing to the unseen region to which the 
surgeon's finger pointed in token that 



the martyr's spirit had ascended thith- 
er, we see the difference which the 
Psalm describes in vivid colors. 

I have read several excellent analyses 
of this Psalm. That of Dr. Clarke is 
too elaborate and minute in its details 
for my present purpose. That of Dr. 
Alexander is sufficiently comprehen- 
sive and more appropriate for this oc- 
casion. He says, "This Psalm may be 
divided into three parts, parallel to one 
another, in all of which the elements 
combined are complaint, prayer, and 
the promise of thanksgiving for antici- 
pated deliverance. The first division 
is occupied with an invocation of di- 
vine judgments on God's enemies, end- 
ing with an expression of triumph in 
God's favor, vs. 1-9. The second con- 
tains a more particular description of 
these enemies as oppressors, false ac- 
cusers, unthankful Tenderers of evil for 
good, and malignant scoffers, with a 
prayer for divine interposition, and a 
pledge of public thanksgiving, verses 
10-18. The third reviews briefly the 
description of the enemies, but is chief- 
ly filled with prayer to be delivered 
from them, and closes, like the others, 
with a promise of perpetual thanksgiv- 
ing, vs. 19-28." 

In this synopsis we see that the line 
of demarcation is clearly drawn, that 
the two great opposing parties are de- 
scribed with their distinctive charac- 
teristics. Only the extreme represen- 
tatives of each side are drawn. The 
finer shades of difference, such as ap- 
pear only to the eye of God and are 
defined in the nice discriminations of 
the Gospel, are not discernible. 

On the one side we see prayer, de- 
vout trust and gratitude, or holy 
thanksgiving for benefits received or 
anticipated. These expressions denote 
the most striking phenomena of the re- 
ligious life, and they have always been 
notably intensified among the purest 
devotees of religion. It is this class, 
more than any other, that becomes the 
target for the sharp weapons of ridi- 
cule, of satire, of invective and con- 
tempt, which the fiercer individuals of 
the other party love to use,— which the 
desperately wicked are wont to employ 



in their warfare upon the righteous. 
Then, on the side of the ungodly, the 
notable traits set forth In the Psalm 
are cruelty, oppression, false accusa- 
tion, ingratitude and scoffing. Now 
then, here are the parties which stand 
in open conflict through all time, fiom 
the fall of Adam to the Judgment Day, 
all over this earth wherever the foot of 
man has trod. Out of the spirit and 
practice of the one party has sprung 
every evil that has alllicted the inhab- 
itants of this planet ; from the patient 
toil and holy influence exerted by the 
other, under the guidance and help of 
God, has come everything that has 
blessed the human race and lifted it 
higher and higher in the scale of moral 
purity and excellence. 

Thus the righteous and the wicked 
confront each other everywhere, mix 
and mingle everywhere. Diverse in 
character, in habits, in motives of ac- 
tion and bound to different destinies. 
The wicked, in the majority every- 
where, claim the pre-eminence, arro- 
gate superiority, and in political affairs, 
as well as in commerce and all the sec- 
ular activities of the world, exert the 
greater control, a control that dues not 
work for righteousness, for a corrupt 
tree cannot yield good fruit. To which 
side ought we to belong ? Which 
should we trust as most competent to 
guide us in matters pertaining to the 
soul ? Grant' that among the oppo- 
nents of righteousness there may be 
genius, and learning, and rare accom- 
plishments, and scientific acumen, and 
splendid abilities, is it safe to trust 
them in matters relating to the eternal 
destiny of the soul? When they dis- 
card the only chart that guides the 
traveller to the immortal shore, what 
do they know about the scenes beyond 
the grave ? What can their science 
teach them concerning a hereafter ? 
What does their philosophy know about 
God and eternal things? When they 
rob you of your Bible, they extinguish 
the only light that can illumine the 
grave and irradiate the eternal shore. 
When they rob you of your hope of 
heaven what do they give you iu its 
stead ? When they scoff at the finger 



(» 



of science itself, pointing upward to 
heaven, what consolation do they give 
to the widow kneeling at the bedside 
of the illustrious dead, or that octoge- 
narian mother wailing out her bitter 
complaint, "O why did they want to 
kill my boy !" Trust them not! Trust 
none who aid and abet them in their 
unholy war against God and His truth 1 
Better trust the other side, who from 
the days of righteous Abel until now 
have fought on the side of truth, have 
suffered, have triumphed over the 
world, and died shouting victory to God 
and the Lamb! Yes, trust them, for 
even if their hope should prove falla- 
cious it is better than the others can 
give, because it makes smooth the rug- 
ged paths of this world and robs death 
and the grave of all their terrors. A 
conclusion like this may not meet the 
demands of science falsely so called, 
but it meets the demands of the heart. 
A learned physician was once afflicted 
with a cancer on the face, and a person 
who had been healed by a cancer doc- 
tor urged him to seek a cure by the 
same remedy ; but he declared his 
preference to die of the cancer rather 
than have it extracted by any but what 
he deemed a scientific method, and die 
he did. So there are persons who seem 
determined never to be saved unless 
they can be saved in a scientific way. 
All such are described by the Scripture 
formula— Thou fool! Trust them not, 
for their science — which they misinter- 
pret as they misinterpret your Bible- 
teaches them to trample under foot the 
blood of the Son of God and count it an 
unholy thing. 

Faith and true science are not ene- 
mies. They are only separated by fol- 
ly. They are twin brothers when they 
are under government and proper 
guidance— when they submit to Him 
who is the Way and the Truth and the 
Life. Philosophy , under that guidance, 
is led into all truth ; severed from its 
governor and guide it becomes a truant, 
a vagrant, and is sure to disgrace it- 
self. 

Turning from the general features of 
this psalm to the one verse which I 
wish especially to emphasize, we see 



the trait of wickedness which asserts 
itself more than any other in the pres- 
ent crisis, that is scoffing. 

See how it is expressed in the 21st 
verse : "Yea, they opened their mouth 
wide against me, saying Aha, aha, our 
eye hath seen it." The word aha is 
one of open contempt and utter dis- 
dain ; it is spoken with an air of tri- 
umph, and is often meant as an insult. 
It is frequently used in the Psalms and 
prophecies, and always as an expres- 
sion of contempt. It was uttered with 
a harsh, protracted, gutteral sound, and 
evinced the bitter feeling of the scoffer, 
the very essence of egotism and intense 
self-assertion. Precisely in the same 
sense and in the same manner it is 
spoken even now, as when one, anima- 
ted by the spirit and almost in the very 
words of the text, exclaims, "Aha ! I 
told you so, I saw long ago just how it 
would be !" Thus the blatant objector 
to revealed religion, or the unsanctified 
formalist, or the speculative skeptic, 
when he sees a professor of religion 
step aside, or hears of the fall of a 
minister, or the failure of a Christian's 
faith in any matter of public concern, 
opens wide his mouth to mock, scoff 
and revile the Christian profession. 
"Aha ! I told you so : I saw it !*' 

Nothing can please such people bet- 
ter than a bit of scandal. "Aha ! I 
told you so ; I saw it !" Now that all 
Christendom has prayed for the resto- 
ration of our beloved President, and 
death, notwithstanding their prayers, 
has done its cruel work, and the asassins 
stroke proved fatal, we find this spirit 
exhibiting itself with all the triumph 
of egotism, with all the air of atheistic 
confidence and self-assertion. "Aha ! 
aha ! I told you so ; I saw it all the 
time!" I have seen this very spirit 
manifesting itself within the last week, 
and noticed the sneer, and heard words 
implying reproof of the whole Chris- 
tian world, as if its prayers were vain. 
Nay, I have heard an unfriendly con- 
trast made between Christianity and 
Mormonism— a statement that the Mor- 
mons had prayed that the President 
might not recover, and then the com- 
ment that the Mormons were favored 



and the Christians slighted. I do not 
tenow how nor for what the Mormons 
prayed ; I have read nothing about 
them in this connection ; but I do know 
how all Christendom has prayed, how 
earnestly, how devoutly, how patheti- 
cally. England's illustrious Queen, and 
all her Christian subjects, have prayed ; 
all Christian Europe has prayed ; all 
America, including Roman Catholics, 
Protestants, Quakers, Jews, Gentiles — 
all have prayed. I do not know but 
even Turks, in the Mosques dedicated 
to the False Prophet, have prayed, for 
the spirit of America is transforming 
the spirit of the world, and penetrating 
the oldest superstitions of the earth. 
We have all prayed, and yet our Presi- 
dent is dead ! And now, even before 
the Christian minister can say "Earth 
to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust," 
blatant skepticism opens wide its mouth 
against all that prayed, saying, "Aha, 
aha, our eye hath seen it." 

Oh, why did not Christendom ask 
scoffing skepticism's permission to 
pray V How blind not to have seen 
what the scoffer's eye had seen, that 
Cod had made him the repository of his 
secrets, that we ought to have gone to 
him for revelations of the Unsearcha- 
ble and the Infinite. 

With pain we acknowledge it that 
our prayers were not answered to the 
extent and in the way of our wishes. 
But we are consoled by the holiest ex- 
amples of old. 

David besought God for his sick 
child, and fasted and wept, laying all 
night upon the ground overwhelmed 
with grief; but the child died, not- 
withstanding his prayers. Paul prayed 
three times that the thorn in the flesh 
might depart from him ; but it departed 
not. Even the Master prayed thrice 
that the bitter cup of anguish might 
pass from His lips ; but it passed not 
away until he drank it to the bitter 
dregs. What then ? Were the prayers 
answered ? Yes, in a certain way. 
David was consoled with the thought 
that though the child could not return 
to him, he could go to it. Paul was 
comforted by the promise that the 
grace of God would be sufficient for 



him. Jesus was strengthened by an 
angel who appeared in the hour of hia 
human weakness to succor him. 

So in a certain way the prayers of 
Christendom have been answered in 
the ease of our stricken Chief, and in 
many ways, perhaps, which do not yet 
appear, they may still be answered. 
Nobody prayed that the President 
might never die. No one fixed in Ins 
prayers a limit for his life's duration. 
Yet we believe that his life was pro- 
longed in answer to prayer, and that 
its prolongation worked for the good 
of the Nation. 

The wound was mortal. The autop- 
sy shows this. The fatal shot put the 
assassin's victim beyond the reach of 
human skill. This is verified by ac- 
credited science, and I suppose that 
there is not a scientific man in the 
world that will dispute it. The won- 
der is that death was not instantaneous, 
that the President survived for even a 
day or an hour. But he did survive 
lor eighty days. Was this not in an- 
swer to prayer ? Look at one dark day 
of his dreadful experience. It was 
Saturday, the 27th of August. Hope 
was extinguished from every breast 
save that of the noble wife. The sur- 
geons, the Cabinet, the whole Nation 
despaired. Sunday came, and the 
whole Nation, all sympathetic Christ- 
endom prayed. The President grew 
better, hope revived, and ultimate re- 
covery was deemed possible by the most 
despairing. The precious life was 
spared for three weeks longer. The 
Nation was not yet prepared for the 
sacrifice. The people of God were not 
yet ready to give him up, the Divine 
purpose, inscrutable and mysterious, 
was not ripened to its maturity. But 
hopeless as was the case, was it beyond 
the reach of Omnipotence ? Is any 
thing too hard for God ? Could not He 
have caused this man to recover and 
live and finish his executive career in 
spite of the broken rib, and the frac- 
tured spine, and the lacerated tissues, 
and the pus cavity, and the dreadful 
pyaemia, and the exhausting drainage ? 
Did not our faith compass all that 
might be deemed impossible in the 



premises, and look with a naked eye to 
Omnipotence ? If faith cannot do 
this,prayer is a mockery, Christian hope 
is a nullity, skepticism is triumphant 
and all Christendom is stultified. Nay, 
we may lay aside our Bibles, close up 
our sanctuaries, and hail the Tyndals, 
the Huxleys and the Spencers as the 
great prophets of the nations. I plead 
for God, I plead for truth, I plead for 
righteousness against the blasphemy of 
atheists,againstthe impiety of skeptics, 
against the malicious egotism of scof- 
fers. I aver that our faith is not in 
vain, that our prayers have not been 
powerless. True, our beloved Presi- 
dent is dead. But whose fault is it 
that he lives not, that he sits not in the 
high seat of honor in which the popu- 
lar suffrage placed him ? It is not the 
fault of Christendom, it is not the 
fault of any Christian teaching. All 
the wrong comes from the side opposed 
to God and the truth ; it comes from 
the side of the infidel and the scoffer ; 
it comes from the ungodly, that great 
party which, unhappily, is still in the 
majority, as it ever has been— the great 
party that stands opposed to the right- 
eous, that walks in the ways of dark- 
ness, that treads all the paths of evil, 
the broad and hard-beaten road that 
leads to death. 

If any who now hear me are on the 
side of the wicked in the great battle 
that is now waging between right and 
wrong, between God and His enemies, 
let me say to all such, behold your com- 
peer, your companion, your brother — a 
thousandfold worse, I admit, than you 
— but still your companion, your com- 
peer, your brother— the assassin. All 
the wrong has come from your side of 
the great line of demarcation, not from 
the Christian's side. It was the con- 
duct of the wicked in this Nation that 
wrought such a state of things as de- 
manded a National sacrifice. Garfield, 
dying out of the Executive Chair, would 
have died as an individual, honored by 
many as a worthy citizen, but lamented 
only by a limited numbpr. But he was 
stricken as the chief ruler of fifty mil- 
lions of people ; he suffered for the Na- 
tion, and the Nation suffered in him. 



His death was, in a certain sense, a 
National sacrifice, because the Nation 
had sinned. There comes out of this 
awful crime of Guiteau a revelation 
not merely of his own but of the Na- 
tion's guilt. There slumbered beneath 
it a moral putrefaction in the condition 
of society which alone could make it 
possible. Its perpetration has but 
opened the fetid mass and spread the 
unwholesome odor over the broad land. 
The blood of our lamented President 
could not atone for the sins of any in- 
dividual, for he needed the blood of a 
holier sacrifice for his own sms. 

But a nation, as such, has no soul ; 
yet it may grievously offend the Al- 
mighty, and call for a visitation of His 
wrath. 

The Roman conspirators appealed to 
a sentiment deeply imbedded in the 
popular heart when they invented the 
plea that Ca?sar's death was a sacrifice 
to make expiation for the sins of the 
Nation. All history shows that there 
are times when such sacrifices are in- 
evitable. Have our National sins 
called for the sacrifice of our President ? 
If so, might not the doom have been 
averted, or the stroke mitigated, and 
the precious life preserved in answer to 
our prayers by timely repentance, by 
the Nation's purging herself from her 
most glaring iniquities ? 

To avert Divine wrath nations, no 
less than individuals, must repent and 
purge themselves from their iniquities. 
Something more than prayer is needed, 
for "if I regard iniquity in my heart, 
the Lord will not hear me." Has the 
Nation repented of her sins ? Let us 
glance at some of her iniquities. 

1. THE CIVIL SERVICE INIQUITY. 

It is an odious system as we have it. 
It has long borne the appropriate ap- 
pellation of "the spoils system." It 
was invented and so named by a Pres- 
ident, and therefore the Nation is re- 
sponsible for all the vices which it has 
bred. 

It is based upon the infamous princi- 
ple that the man who has rendered the 
party some valuable assistance, even 
though it may be at the expense of 



'.I 



honor and morality, must be rewarded 
with an office, regardless of merit or 
qualification. The honest incumbent, 
however well qualified, must be Bet 
aside that the base tool of cliques and 
rings and intriguing parties may occu- 
py his place. Every party has Bome 
dirty work which decent adherents 
scorn to do — some slander to be propa- 
gated, some fraud to be managed, some 
falsehood to be circulated— and the fit- 
ting instrument is sought for among 
the hase and unprincipled. There aie 
always plenty of such in the market, 
and their services are in requisition 
whenever a canvass begins. It is such 
a system only that could breed and fos- 
ter a Gniteau, but if it is not laid 
aside, stamped out or reformed, it will 
breed other Guiteaus in the future. 
Our noble President was bent upon 
reforming it, but he fell a victim to its 
rage, and his death was a sacrifice for 
this National sin. The reformer be- 
came a martyr. 

2. THE MORMON INIQUITY. 

This is an eating cancer upon our 
body politic. Hear what an intelligent 
Judee — Judge Spear — an old resident 
of Utah, says about it: "Rebellion is 
slumbering in Utah, awaiting its op- 
portunity. Every year the Mormon 
church is growing richer and more 
powerful; every year its followers aie 
becoming more numerous ; polygamy 
is on the increase right straight along ; 
every foot of agricultural land in the 
adjoining Territories is being eobbled 
up by Mormons. In ten years the 
United States will have several Utahs 
to deal with." 

Another, .Judge Campbell, says : "To 
reflect t hat the greatest Republic in the 
world should nurse and protect one of 
the most abominable despotisms the 
sun ever shone on is enough to make a 
man lose all faith in the improvement 
of political institutions." 

Now I ask this Christian audience if 
our Nation is not responsible for this 
growing pollution? She must purge 
herself, or untold evils will follow. 

3. THE INIQUITY OF MONOPOLIES 

These have grown fat on the labor of 
the millions. They put employees upon 
starvation wages; they pamper officials 
with enormous salaries : they bribe leg- 
islation and corrupt the fountains of 
justice; they accumulate millions and 
use them to aggrandize themselves and 
make their power felt. They respect 
neither God nor man. but violate the 
Sabbath, and some of them, like the 
"Star Line" iniquity, defraud the Gov- 
ernment by corrupting its servants. 
They feed the spirit of Communism, 
provoke to riot, and will, if not arrested 



in their course, bring about turbulence 
and bloodshed and conflagration, a 

foretaste ot which we had some yean 
ago lo Pittsburgh and elsewhere. May 
God save our Nation from the iniquity 
of monopolies. 

4. THE ALCOHOLIC [NIQUITT. 

This is last but not least. In fact it 
is the greatest Of all the iniquities for 
which the Nation is responsible, and 
for which it, should mourn more than 
for the loss of a single noble life. The 
Nation mourns to-day the death of a 
single man, because he- was more than 
any other the Nation's man. But who 
mourns the loss of sixty thousand 
slam annually by the liquor makers 
and dealers of the United States ? We 
sympathize and condole with the ven- 
erable mother of our dead President, 
and are touched with the beautirul 
simplicity of her pathetic sorrow when 
she talks, not about the great man at 
the head of affairs, but of her boy, her 
baby, whom she nursed id her lonely 
widowhood, and trained up amid hard- 
ship and want. But who mourns for 
the thousands and thousands of moth- 
ers who grieve with inexpressible an- 
guish over the ruin of noble sons who 
have been destroyed by the liquor traf- 
fic ? We extend to the bereaved widow 
of the noble President our tender and 
heartfelt sympathy, and manifest 
it by liberal contributions to make, her 
comfortable through the remainder of 
her life. But who thinks of the mul- 
tiplied thousands of widows made 
homeless and desolate by avaricious 
and heartless liquor dealers ? We have 
iead the touching story of the orphaned 
son of the President making the lonely 
j lurnev from a school in New England 
to Long Branch on that dark Tuesday, 
when his fond parent slept in the icy 
embrace of death. All along the way, 
unknown, he rode, passing through 
crowds who were talking only about 
the death of his father. Newsboys 
thrust their papers into his face, telling 
him that the President was dead. 
Buildings were being draped in black 
to remind him of his sore bereavement ; 
but on he rode in solitary silence, with 
his burden of grief, to look for the last 
time upon the wasted form of an af- 
fectionate father. Oh, what a touching 
episode in the history of that dark and 
mournful day! But who is touched 
with the still more sorrowful spec- 
tacle of many thousands of orphan 
children turned loose upon society, 
penniless and friendless, unknown and 
unpitied,and all by the demon of in- 
temperance ! 

Oh, is not our Nation guilty of this 
iniquity r 1 It must be wiped out, for in 
every barrel of intoxicating liquors 



10 



there is a Guiteau, ready, when occa- 
sion serves, to assassinate father, 
mother, wife, brother, sister, friend, 
benefactor, anyone. There is in it 
bubbling, sparkling, fascinating, a 
Guiteau, ready to assassinate not the 
President only, but the Nation itself. 
The people must rise up in their might 
and wipe out this iniquity. I call upon 
you, my countrymen, to-day, in the 
presence of the majesty of death, to 
rise and assert your sovereign right to 
deal with this monstrous iniquity. Slay 
this destroyer, and you dispose of an 
evil that fosters all other iniquities. 
Destroy this, and you lessen the pos- 
sibility of repeating the great National 
tragedy which we now lament. 

If now I have correctly hinted at 
some of the causes which demanded 
this costly sacrifice, what is the lesson 
unfolded by the tragic event? It is 
this. We must amend the standard 
of our political ethics. Wemustbring 
it nearer the Divine standard of recti- 
tude. We must root out abuees, wash 
the National skirts from the stain of 
polygamy, curb the grasping avarice of 
monopolies, and restrain the liquor 
dealer from destroying his countrymen 
with his poisoned fluids. God give the 
people strength to do their duty. 

Give them strength to war a good 
warfare against iniquity in high places. 
May this National requiem make a 
lasting impression on our hearts. May 
it work for righteousness, for purifica- 
tion,^ reformation. May not the blood 
of the martyred ruler be shed in vain. 

Already a silver-lining. appears to the 
dismal cloud that hangs over the Na- 
tion. It is a fact that the two most 
enlightened nations of the world, En- 
gland and the United States, are gov- 
erned by parties. It is a notable reat- 
ure of their free constitutions and an 
inalienable prerogative of a free peo- 
ple to have it so. But in both coun- 
tries it has been greatly abused by the 
violence of party feeling. In ours, for 
two or three decades, it has grown to 
such a pitch of violence as to bring us to 
the verge of dissolution and anarchy. 
It was this that gave the assassin the 
only pretext for his murderous deed. 
The fatal blow was struck when the 
great party in power was rent in twain, 
and it was supposed that the Vice 
President openly favored, if he did not 
lead, the faction opposed to his Chief. 
The moment was a critical one in an- 
other respect. By reason of political ma- 
Doeuvering, or otherwise, the House of 
Representatives had no speaker and the 
Senate no President pro tempore; so 
that in case the President should die, 
and the Vice President succeed to the 
vacant Presidency, as lias proved to be 
the case, we are left with but a single 



life between constituted order and an- 
archy. But the Nation has been chas- 
tened by the suffering of her Chief. 
All parties have vied with each other 
in sympathy and condolence. Patriotic 
fervor has proved itself superior to 
partisan bitterness. The Vice Presi- 
dent succeeds and retains the Cabinet 
of his predecessor. The Government 
moves on without a change of policy. 
The Senate will soon be convened, we 
are authoi itatively informed by aWash- 
ington paper, mid will speedily remedy 
the alarmiug deficiency. These are 
hopeful signs of a better day to come, 
the harbinger of peace and good will 
between the parties. And it will be 
attended, the same paper leads us to 
believe, with a new aud blessed change 
in the demeanor of parties. A leading 
representative of the party in power 
openly concedes to the other party the 
right to organize the Senate and elect 
its president. Such magnanimity has 
scarcely ever been paralleled in the his- 
tory of our politics. It is a hopeful 
sign of political regeneration. It be- 
tokens that amid the National throes 
there is born a new principle. It leads 
us to hope that out of this sad death 
there will come a new National life. 
The various paities may hereafter treat 
one another with politeness and manly 
courtesy, spurning chicanery and re- 
nouncing all trickery, encouraging vir- 
tue and frowning down all slanderous 
imputations, rejecting the vicious and 
uudeserying, and promoting only the 
meritorious. Should such transforma- 
tion take place, our National loss will 
be richly compensated, our night of 
sorrow be followed by a bright day of 
reformation. Discord will be succeeded 
by harmony in all our public councils, 
and the most glorious monument that 
can be erected to our murdered Presi- 
dent will be a prosperous country. 

If this renovated National life is 
really the boon which this awful calam- 
ity brings us, it will be fairly tested in 
our treatment of the new Administra- 
tion. Let all our people, irrespective 
of party, give to President Arthur their 
cordial support. The untoward cir- 
cumstances under which he assumed 
the functions of his office command 
our sympathies, let them also enlist our 
generosity. Let there be no dark sus- 
picion lurking within us. Let no man 
prophesy evil. Give him a fair chance. 
lie is as truly our President now as his 
lamented predecessor was before him. 
Unknown and hitherto untried in a 
great position, he may prove to be the 
right man for the times. May no ob- 
stacle be interposed to hinder his suc- 
cess. May it be in every heart to pray, 
God bless our new President, and give 
him a prosperous career. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



014 040 841 4 



CAT. NO. 
AFM 710 



\ 



PI 
COPK 



I 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



014 040 841 4 



PHOTOF1LE ENVELOPES 
MADE FROM 

PERMALIFE ffl PAPER 



